Blossoming Catnip, Ascending Queen
by Snowthistle
Summary: Two sweeps have passed since Nepeta has seen majority of her friends, but she has kept in contact with a few. Feferi is preparing for her coronation as Empress of Alternia, and Eridan suspects that something will prevent her from ruling her empire. Non-SGRUB AU.


Chapter 1: Leonine

The night is cool and a light breeze blows across the land while the stars sparkle, and the pink and green moons of Alternia hang in the gravity of space. Lights turn on in the streets and in hives through a suburban area as trolls begin to wake up and begin to go about their nightly business. At the outskirts of the suburban area begins the growth of blue trees with pink leaves where wild animals and lusii roam. The olive eyes of one such lusus scan the quiet forest for prey as she hunts for her darling charge still asleep at home. Usually the oliveblood would accompany her on a breakfast hunt, but she had stayed up past her coontime roleplaying with her friends and was currently sleeping in. She didn't mind both hunting alone and letting her charge sleep in, however, and continued to breathe in the scents of the forest. Her ears pricked at the sound of tiny, scrabbling paws crossing the forest floor, and a fat squeakbeast with three eyes hopped into view. It wasn't quite what she was wanting and really wouldn't be enough for either her or her charge to eat, but she supposed she could have it as part of her breakfast anyways.

Quietly, she lowered her massive feline body to the forest floor and focused on the fat morsel innocently nibbling away at a nut it had found among the pink leaves. Perfect. It wouldn't suspect a thing, and the breeze was blowing towards her instead of towards the squeakbeast. This would be a good start to an early night hunt. She pounced upon the unsuspecting rodent and delivered a swift bite to its spine. Her mouths watered as she picked up the lifeless squeakbeast in one of them and proceeded to look for more prey in the forest. Perhaps a giant hopbeast would do for the week's kill, and she and her charge had not eaten hopbeast in awhile. Now if only she could find one that was wild and not somebody's lusus then it would be perfect. She'd nearly delivered a killing bite to a poor brownblood's hopbeast lusus much to her chagrin.

After stuffing the squeakbeast into the mouth of the giant hopbeast she'd killed, she hoisted it onto her back as best as she could, using the trees around her to keep it centered. Her charge was surely awake right now or at least nearly awake, so she would need to get back to the cave soon. Meanwhile, a certain feline-loving troll was still asleep in her recuperacoon. Her olive eyes opened up and slowly adjusted to the cave lighting as she let out a huge yawn and stretched in a catlike manner. It appeared that her lusus was nowhere to be found, so she must've gone out hunting. Slowly, she reached over for the towel resting on a chair beside her recuperacoon and began wiping off the spoor slime still clinging to her. Afterwards, she crossed over to grab some fresh clothes out of the shelf-like holes in the wall and slipped out of the shirt she wore into the recuperacoon the other day.

A large presence filled the cave, and Nepeta turned around to see her lusus padding in with a giant hopbeast with an almost normal sized squeakbeast shoved into its mouth. She gladly heaved the hopbeast off of Pounce's back and onto the cave floor to begin preparing it for breakfast. Pounce settled herself behind her dear charge and began to wash one of her paws thoroughly as Nepeta worked on the hopbeast. She looked proudly at the girl sitting before her as she groomed her forelegs with thorough strokes of her tongue. It'd been nearly two and a half sweeps, and Nepeta had certainly changed a lot both physically and mentally. At one point during her sixth sweep, Nepeta had been able to keep in close contact with her twelve other friends and even met up with them whenever she felt like it. Of course, she'd always kept in contact with her lowerblooded friends Aradia and Tavros. Sometimes she kept in contact with that one weird troll named Sollux, but it was hardly ever those two alone.

The kind jadeblood Kanaya visited the cave since she lived out in the desert and did not want to trouble Nepeta by having her make the journey all the way to her hive, and the tealblood Terezi frequently visited Nepeta and vice versa. Occasionally, Nepeta and Pounce would journey over to Equius' hive with Pounce having to make a huge leap each time to make it over; Equius began constructing a bridge that would make it easier for the two to cross. None of the other highbloods visited, but Nepeta kept contact through group chats with other friends and roleplays. She did have the misfortune of running into a wounded Eridan one time and had to take care of the miserable seadweller, but she coped with having him in her cave and was a very menacing caretaker towards him. Sometimes she would venture over to Karkat's hive, but he never went to her hive. This was the same for each of the other trolls with their respective relationships to each other, and that all came to an end at one point save for the trolls with the closest relationships. Nobody really knew why, but communication amongst all twelve trolls had slowed down or came to a complete halt. Nepeta personally found herself corresponding closely for a time period, but the young heiress was unable to visit due to her royal duties.

Nepeta didn't really mind living solitary-aside from her lusus- from other trolls since she didn't come in contact with that many trolls while living in the forest aside from other forest dwellers and the occasional highblood. She did keep in contact with Terezi, but their conversations were few and scattered. After all, the tealblood was obviously busy on adventures with her Scourge Sister Vriska. Pounce, Equius, and Feferi were able to keep her company during Terezi's absences via personal or online interaction, and she cherished those interactions. Lately, she'd been feeling as if something exciting was going to happen, but nothing different had happened in the past few nights. She certainly looked different herself, and she definitely enjoyed the change. Sometimes she grew her hair out long until it hindered her hunting and became unmanageable, so she would chop off her lengthy locks and dispose of the remains. Currently her hair was down to her waist and still damp with spoor slime, and she knew Pounce would be urging her to wash her hair soon; she could be so impatient on occasion.

Nepeta finished up breakfast with Pounce and thanked her for such a great catch by scratching behind her ears and underneath her neck area. Once she was done with that, she promptly stood up and walked out of the cave to make her way to the river to get the neon green gunk out of her hair. Maybe she would cut her hair soon, but she decided to wait a little longer for that and quickly sprinted for the length of water running through the forest as soon as she spotted it. Carefully, she waded into the water as she recalled too many times where she cut her feet or twisted an ankle for recklessly charging in. She spent a few more minutes casually floating on her back before heading back to the cave to dry off and see if anyone was up for a good roleplay. After wrapping her hair in a towel to keep from dripping all over Pounce, Nepeta leaned against her lusus and brought out her tablet to see who was online. It appeared that a certain tyrianblooded heiress was online as well as a certain crabby, nubby horned troll.

arsenicCatnip [AC] began trolling cuttlefishCuller [CC]

AC: :33 { *ac curtsies befur the young heiress*

AC: :33 { *she smiles politely and straightens up again and greets the beautyifful seadweller* hello Feferi!

CC: 38D! *t)(e )(eiress is glad to sea t)(e lovely )(untress in )(er court again*

CC: *s)(e is in fact very -EXCITED to sea )(er oliveblooded frond* )(ello Nepeta!

CC: *t)(e )(eiress sits down on a pile of cus)(ions and beckons over )(e dear )(untress for a c)(at*

AC: :33 { *ac acknowledges Her Young Highness' orders and walks over to the pile of cushions*

AC: :33 { *she politely asks if she may curl up in her lap*

CC: *the young )(eiress nods )(er )(ead and allows for the mighty )(untress to rest )(er )(ead in )(er lap* )(ow )(ave you been?

AC: *ac lets out a huge yawn exposing her fangs befur responding* I've been well!

CC: T)(at's good to hear! 38)

CC: )(ave you been up to anyt)(ing interesting lately?

AC: :33 { no not really

CC: 38O O)(?

AC: :33 { have you talked to any of our friends in awhile?

CC: 38( No, not reely. I've only talked to you and Eridan recently, but )(e's been so busy wit)( t)(ings lately. I miss )(im.

AC: :33 { :(( aww im sorry about that

AC: :33 { im sure youll get to talk to him soon!

CC: W)(at about you?

AC: :33 { i havent talked to many people in a long time

AC: :33 { i only talk to you, equius, and sometimes terezi

AC: :33 { she gets really busy on her escapades with vriska

CC: Reely? I thought Vriska was at sea with –Eridan.

AC: :33 { oh?

AC: :33 { purrhaps shes taken a break from her sea voyage then?

CC: 38O Probubbly!

CC: I wis)( I could visit you at your cave, but t)(e )(ig)(er ups keep saying that I absolutely )(ave to prepare for my coronation! Conc)(estly, it's so boring, and I just want to visit all my landwelling fronds again! We all used to be muc)( closer!

AC: :33 { i know right?

AC: :33 { :(( whatever happened to all of us?

CC: 38( I guess we all got busy wit)( personal stuff? I don't know. T)(at seems too farfetc)(ed to me. Glub.

AC: :33 { well one day well all be able to meet together again

CC: GLUB! T)(AT'S RIGHT! 38D w)(en I'm crowned empress I can invite all eleven of you to my land castle, and we can catc)( up and stuff! It'll be great!

AC: :33 { that sounds like a lot of fun! ill be looking furward to it!

CC: Glub! T)(at sounds like a plan! 38( GLUB! I )(ave to go now and attend to some boring lessons! I )(ope we get to talk again soon! *t)(e young )(eiress apologizes for )(aving to leave so soon*

AC: :33 { aww!

AC: :33 { good luck on your lessons feferi! *ac waves goodbye until next time*

CC: 38D!

cuttlefishCuller [CC] ceased trolling arsenicCatnip [AC]

Nepeta removed the towel from her head and rubbed it all over her head and hair before tossing it into the hamper she had sitting in a corner of the cave. Pounce was calmly resting on the floor with her eyes half-open as she quietly watched her charge crossing the room. The huge feline heaved out a contented sigh as she stretched herself out even more on the floor. Nepeta checked her tablet again to see who was online and was disappointed to find that everyone else had logged off. _How boring! _She thought dolefully. Well, it appeared that she would have to entertain herself. With a wistful sigh, she walked down a small tunnel of her cave and into another small chamber where her multitudes of ships decorated the wall. She looked at one wall and fondly regarded ships that had come to fruition and those that did not. A smile came to her lips as she continued to look at each ship, and she slowly wandered over to a certain section and peered at one of the squares.

Oh yes, this was her absolute favorite ship, and she fondly treasured this ship in her heart. Of course it never happened, and she never told him how she felt and eventually got over her silly, wigglerish infatuation with him. She still liked him as a friend even if they weren't too close with each other, and she would never change the heart at the top of the square. Nepeta turned around and exited the chamber, and she gave Pounce a good scratch behind the ears as she left the cave. It really was such a nice night outside, and the light of the Alternian moons illuminated the sky with their pink and green glow. Nepeta climbed nimbly over a huge boulder and surveyed her current surroundings. One path lead to Terezi's treehive, another went towards some other part of the forest, and the final lead out of the forest and to a rural area just before the nearest suburbs. She opted to go along the path leading to the rural area and the suburbs.

This area would be scattered with maybe two to four hives spread out far from each other, and a few trees dotted the grassy terrain. Nepeta navigated her way through the forest and collected twigs, leaves, and dirt in her hair along the way. Pounce would then take the liberty to clean Nepeta herself or nudge her to the river before letting her in. They may live in the forest, but Pounce was not going to allow her charge to stay dirty for very long. Nepeta giggled to herself at this thought and eventually made her way out of the forest and set foot on lush grass. She observed her surroundings to make sure that there were no hostile trolls or lusii in the area and resumed her walk. Music filled the air as one of the rural residents sat on the porch strumming a guitar beside a huge nut creature with three eyes quietly watching the area. Nepeta waved as she walked past, and the maroonblooded troll smiled politely in return.

As she came closer to the suburban area, she wondered why she didn't come around here that often. She really only went to the general store and convenience store located near the end of the suburbs. Come to think of it, she felt like going there right now to pick up a few things for home. A fellow oliveblood waved in greeting from where she stood behind a checkout counter while her yellowblooded co-worker leaned unenthusiastically against the backside. Nepeta waved back before heading to the book and magazine area to find a book to read. It took her a few minutes of searching until she decided on a romance novel, and she realized that she absolutely needed Oreos to go along with her novel. Quickly, she found the snacks aisle and took three packages of Oreos to go and grabbed a box of tea leaves once she remembered that she was running low; a jug of milk was also added to her cargo. She was finally satisfied with her items and checked them out at the counter and began to head back home.

On the way back home, she passed by Karkat's hive and curiously peered at the bright red banners decorating the exterior of his hive. She was going to leave after that until the door burst open and a distressed looking Crabdad came out screeching and flailing his limbs wildly. Something about his demeanor told her that something was wrong and that it wasn't him getting frustrated over a quarrel with Karkat. It was such a shame that she couldn't understand him, but she wasn't about to leave him alone when he looked so distressed. She peered behind him momentarily for any sign of Karkat or immediate danger and saw nothing. Stashing away her groceries in her fetch modus for the time being, she turned her attention back to the large, screeching lusus who showed no signs of calming down as he thrashed about madly. Nepeta decided that he would need to lead the way in order for her to find out what was going on instead of trying to decipher his screeching or even go through a game of charades. Since he was larger than her and was able to cover more ground with his longer limbs, he offered to let her ride on his back by crouching down for her to climb on.

She nodded and carefully mounted his back being mindful of the sharp spines sticking out of his exoskeleton. Crabdad made sure that Nepeta was secure and proceeded to walk out of the suburbs and across the rural area back into the forest. Nepeta scanned the forest for any sign of Karkat as she hopped off Crabdad's back once they were in. The two carefully scented the air and wandered around a bit until Nepeta finally spotted some fresh blood. It was the most unusual shade of blood that she'd ever seen in her entire life. The hue was such a vibrant red that was even brighter than most of the wild animals she'd hunted and even Aradia's blood color. Was this Karkat's blood then? Blood this brightly colored was definitely a sign of abnormality. This meant that he had a reason for typing in all gray like he usually did, but she had no time to be gazing in curiosity at his unusual shade. Karkat could be seriously injured and poor Crabdad was worried about him.

She looked around to see where else the blood was coming from and walked in that direction. It appeared that some type of strife had taken place here as evidenced by Karkat's brightly colored blood splattering the trees and ground, darker red blood mixing with that, and damaged bushes from the conflict. He must've been attacked by a wild animal since there were claws marks scoring the trees and paw prints in the earth. Tufts of fur appeared here and there, and Nepeta eventually came to a cliff where the trail of blood began to curve downwards. She carefully peered over the edge and saw a hopefully just knocked out Karkat sprawled across some rocks bleeding out. Crabdad screeched in horror and blundered his way down to where Karkat lay while Nepeta followed behind, hopping from boulder to boulder. She crouched beside him and carefully inspected him for major wounds and any broken bones before moving him; his pulse was still beating and there were no broken bones.

Carefully, Nepeta scooped him up in her arms and gingerly cradled his head against her chest as she began to walking out of the rocky area. Hopefully she wouldn't run into trouble with any higher bloods wandering through the forest because she knew Karkat would be in grave danger if he'd been found out. She would have to make time to clean up this blood as best as she could to hide the fact that he'd been there at all. Crabdad followed behind her and had settled down from his freak out earlier. Nepeta returned to the cave and greeted Pounce de Leon as she carried Karkat over to a pile of pelts and gently laid him down. Pounce affectionately rubbed against Nepeta in greeting and did the same to Crabdad who reached down to pet her head. Nepeta tended to Karkat's wounds while the two lusii interacted with one another at the other end of the cave.

Once she was finished tending to his wounds, she carried him to her recuperacoon and made sure to make him comfortable. After she was satisfied, she grabbed a few things to start cleaning up the blood in the forest. She sincerely hoped that no one would catch her scrubbing trees because that would make for a really awkward situation that she did not want to explain. It was almost an hour past her normal lunchtime when she finished cleaning and covering up the scents, but she didn't really care about that. Karkat was still passed out in her recuperacoon when she returned, and she decided that was a good thing as she grabbed some meat from the special refrigerator Equius made for her to use in her cave. An hour passed as Nepeta finished up cooking lunch for herself and Karkat, and Karkat finally stirred from his sleep. Nepeta walked over to the recuperacoon as she took off the apron Kanaya made for her and stood over the sleepy troll. It took him a few seconds to wake up and realize where he was, and his eyes went wide as he recalled what had happened to him.

"Oh f- I- It's not what it looks like!" He stammered out.

Nepeta smiled and tilted her head to the side as she watched him try to speak.

"Okay it is what it looks like, and I won't blame you for killing me," He said, defeated.

"AC has no idea what Karkat is babbling on about. She would've killed him on the spot if that was the case instead of taking him back to her hive and tending to his wounds," she narrated in attempts to calm his nerves.

"You- You're not going to kill me?"

"Karkat, you're ridiculous! You know I don't care about blood colors unless it's mandatory! Besides, you're my friend, and I couldn't do that to a friend unless it was out of self-defense!" she assured him.

He sighed with relief," Well, that's a huge weight lifted from my mutantblood shoulders."

"Oh shush you need to stop that. I made lunch while you were sleeping in my recuperacoon!" she announced.

"You did? You didn't have to do-"

She put a finger to his lips," Shh I did it because I wanted to help you! Don't let my hard work go all to waste!"

"Sorry I should be more grateful instead of complaining about how you spend your time with me."

Nepeta turned around to grab what she'd made for lunch and served it on two plates for her and Karkat. A loud growling noise sounded behind her, and she turned to see a blushing Karkat embarrassed from his noisy stomach. She giggled and was glad to know that he was hungry as she tossed a towel at him and pulled over the wooden table sitting in the corner and two chairs. Karkat caught the towel and began cleaning up the spoor slime covering his body before walking over to join Nepeta at the table. To be honest, he was half-expecting her to serve him raw meat-which wouldn't have been_ too_ bad even though most trolls preferred cooked meat- and decided that he probably would've eaten whatever she served him within reason; he'd had a small breakfast. On his plate were some antlerbeast meat, rice, peas, and fish. Nepeta had certainly done a great job in making lunch, and he began to dig in.

The two finished up lunch after a little while, and Nepeta sat him down again to check on his dressings which were neon green from the spoor slime. He sat in silence but couldn't help glancing over at Nepeta since he hadn't seen her in such a long time. Her horns were bigger and a little sharper than they were before, she'd grown out her hair again, and he knew her chest was much smaller the last time he saw her. He flushed and brought his gaze back up to her face as she continued to tend to him. She seemed not to notice, and he was grateful for that or else he'd have to deal with giving her an awkward explanation. He only wanted to see how much she'd changed over the last two sweeps, so surely she wouldn't have been too angry with him for looking. She appeared to deliberate over his bandages for a few moments and finally stood to grab a fresh change for him, and he couldn't help but look at her retreating form to get a full perspective of how much she changed. Quickly, he looked away before she could catch him staring at her from behind and kept quiet about her.

"Did you get a nice look?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Sorry! I wasn't trying to be a pervert or anything creepy like that!" he stammered.

She snickered," I know you didn't have any ill intentions. I'm just teasing you a little bit."

"It's just been so long since the last time you came over to my hive, and I'm not just talking a few weeks or a few months. You just stopped coming over to my hive all of a sudden," he explained.

She nodded,"I don't know what happened. Fur some reason I just didn't feel like interacting with anyone fur awhile, and I'm not entirely sure what came over me. I do miss seeing you all though."

"Have you been in contact with anyone lately besides Equius?"

"I roleplay and stuff with Feferi over Trollian and sometimes Terezi, but Terezi's been caught up with her own things lately."

"I was probably contributing to that."

"You're still seeing her?"

"Yeah, it's complicated."

"Pfft, wow so mysterious."

"What?"

She smiled and finished putting on his new bandages," You haven't changed a single bit, Karkat."

"I'm sorry but have you seen these rock hard abs?" he gestured to his abdominal area.

She poked him in the ribcage which caused him to jump and nearly fall off the chair.

"I meant in purrsonality!" she laughed.

"Well it seems that you haven't changed either, cat girl."

"Not really! How've you been?"

"Aside from being cliff stomped by an angry wild animal for accidentally stepping on its tail and passing out on the rocks in my disgusting, candy red mutantblood? I've been fine."

Nepeta purred," That's good. How'd you end up getting 'cliff stomped' by a wild animal anyways?"

"I was on my way back from Terezi's hive, and I just stepped on its tail without knowing it. The next thing I knew, I was being chased after by this huge barkfiend and was promptly cliff stomped onto those rocks."

"Thank goodness I went into the suburbs when I did or else Crabdad would've never alerted me about you! You could've died down there by the barkfiend or even worse!"

"I know."

"Um…it's been awhile since I've seen you, so I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie with me befur you went back to your hive with Crabdad."

"You get electricity out here?"

"Yeah, I've got it in a way. I have Equius to thank fur that!"

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to stay for a little longer. Plus, everything hurts, and I'm not in the mood for traveling right now even back to my hive."

"Oh then why don't you just stay fur the day then?"

"Are you sure about that? You don't have to do that for me. I can just watch a movie with you and be on my crabby way."

She brought her hands up to his face and squished his cheeks," Oh you're such a grumpypuss! You know I don't mind having to deal with you and your purrpetual crabbiness!"

"Would you please stop squishing my cheeks?"

Nepeta removed her hands from his face and moved the table back into the corner, and Karkat slowly stood from the chair and pushed it back with the others. Pounce was curled up on a pelt watching her charge beside Crabdad as the two trolls went about the hive preparing to watch some movies. She swished her tail from side to side and blinked slowly as she observed her charge pulling pelts into a pile and some pillows for maximum comfort while watching movies. There was something that she really liked about having the Vantas boy over at the hive, but she wasn't sure what it was. It might've been the fact that he'd been the one to occupy Nepeta's thoughts and make her happy to think about him. Although, those thoughts seemed to have been tamed over the past two sweeps and slowed to a complete stop, so she wondered if her charge still had a crush on him. Even if she didn't have feelings for him anymore, the Vantas boy still seemed to make Nepeta happy with his presence which Pounce appreciated.

Eventually the Alternian sun began to rise while the pink and green moons began to sink below the horizon, and Pounce dragged the curtain by the entrance to block any rays of sunlight from coming into the cave. Crabdad had fallen asleep as well as Nepeta who was leaning against Karkat as their last movie was still going on. Karkat was nodding off himself but strained to keep himself awake to finish up the remainder of the movie before falling asleep. Pounce allowed him to do so then gently nudged the movie player out of his lap and out of the way of his vicinity so it wouldn't get knocked over. She gently nuzzled Nepeta's face and did the same to Karkat then retreated to the center of the cave to go to sleep. The day passed on in silence as the two trolls and their respective lusii slept in the red rock cave. Night rose once again as the Alternian moons made themselves visible and the sun no longer blazed across the sky.

"Wake up sleepyhead!" Nepeta sang as she shook Karkat awake.

"Mm…five more minutes Kanaya…" Karkat mumbled sleepily.

"Karkat Vantas, I am in no way a classy-but-secretly-dorky-fashionista-rainbowdrinker-jadeblood!"

Karkat opened his eyes and turned his gaze to the beaming oliveblood straddling his torso.

"Get your roleplaying, cat rear off my torso, Nepeta."

She leaned in very close to his head and whispered," Get out of bed you nerd."

"NEPETA!"

"KARKAT!"

"OFF!"

"OUT!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"YES!"

"I AM NOT PLAYING THIS GAME WITH YOU, LEIJON!"

"OH YES YOU ARE MR. VANTAS!"

She proceeded to burst out laughing at this ridiculousness and crawled off of him so he could sit up properly. This girl indeed had not changed a single bit since the last time he'd seen her which had been ages ago. Nepeta purred excitedly and gave him a light peck on the forehead before standing up to get breakfast started. Karkat raised an eyebrow at her enthusiasm but supposed she was just really excited to see him again. After all, her first encounter with him after such a long time was him lying in a pool of his own disgustingly bright mutant blood splayed ungracefully across some huge boulders like a worthless loser. He frowned at this negative assessment of himself and decided that he should at least attempt to stop being so grumpy for once. Sure, Nepeta didn't mind his usually cantankerous nature, but he decided to lighten up a bit after not seeing her in forever. It wasn't entirely fair for him to be acting like this after she'd saved his life, and Kanaya would surely be very disappointed in him.

Nepeta finished up with cooking after awhile and set the table for the two of them. Karkat rose slowly from where he sat upon the pile of pelts and walked over to the table cautiously. He squeezed his eyes shut as the pain of his injuries started searing through his body, and Nepeta rushed over to help him. She eased him down carefully and stood beside him for a few moments until he opened his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. Every part of his body hurt and throbbed at the same time and he immediately regretted bothering to move at all. Nepeta gently ruffled his hair and held his hand to assure him that she was there to help him out. He didn't want to worry her too much and have her fuss over him, so he did his best to relax and not think about his injuries. She lingered by his side for a few more moments and finally decided to sit down across from him and start eating. Every now and then, she would glance up to see if he was doing alright, and he appeared to be capable to eat without looking like he was in pain.

He really wasn't fooling her about feeling better because she knew he was in a lot of pain at the moment. It probably wouldn't be best for him to go back home until he had healed up some more. She knew that she'd probably have to get those rom coms fired up for him to watch while she went about her business. As much as she loved watching those movies and spending time with Karkat, Nepeta also wanted to get outside for some fresh air or even talk to other trolls if she saw any. He should be fine in the cave as long as Pounce and Crabdad were there, and she could alternate with Pounce if her lusus was getting antsy for having to stay in the cave all day. Breakfast went by quickly with Nepeta clearing the table and gently scooping up Karkat into her arms to bring him back to the pile of pelts. He seemed to be a bit embarrassed at having to be carried, but she wasn't going to let him walk back over until he was feeling better. There was no need to be embarrassed anyways because no one was watching, and she'd carried Equius, Pounce, Terezi, and even Eridan that one time he got severely injured and crawled to her hive even though she would've rather had him drag himself inside. She grabbed her stack of rom coms and some movies of other genres just in case and brought them over with the DVD player.

"Will you be okay if I leave you here with Pounce and Crabdad? I just need some time outside, but I can stay here a little longer if you want," she offered.

"No, go ahead and get some fresh air. I'll be fine in here as long as nobody comes in and tries to murder me for watching movies," he assured her.

She laughed and stood up," Okay! I'll see you in a few hours then! Try not to set anything on fire while I'm gone!"

"I won't."

"I mean it. I don't want anything getting set on fire."

"What am I going to start a fire with?!"

"The DVD player could burst into flames out of anger."

"What?!"

"I'll see you at lunch, Karkat!" she called out as she left the cave.

"NEPETA, THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" he shouted after her.

It was always entertaining to have Karkat Vantas over to her cave.

oOoOoOo

"She's not fit for the job in my opinion," said a male voice in the darkness of a room.

A candle was lit and radiated some light as it was set upon a circular table.

"What do you think we're working towards? We already know this to be true," a female voice replied sharply.

"How are we to deal with her colleagues?" questioned a male with the voice of a tenor.

"They're scattered across Alternia. There's no way they'd be able to interfere. Besides, we can make good usage of that blueblood and the indigoblood," a higher pitched female voice explained.

"What about that boy?" asked the first male voice.

"All we need to do is make sure he is completely in the dark about our plans as with everybody else. There's a reason why we're meeting down here in the first place. How can he squeal if he knows nothing about this? We all know about his loyalty to her, so we just have to make sure he does not catch wind of anything that we're planning," explained the male tenor.

"We have another thing that could endanger our plans," reminded the higher pitched female.

The first female laughed," He doesn't have any power against us at all. That boy is a minor threat compared to the rest of them, and he knows his place. There's no need to fear him."

"Surely we use him as well if need be?" inquired the tenor.

""Of course! There's nothing holding us back from that," she replied.

"Ahh it's great to be back with the opportunity to be in charge for once," said the first male.

"Meeting adjourned," announced the first female.

The candle was blown out as the group filed out of the underground room and stealthily made their way onto the surface. All was quiet and no one else was around to witness the cloaked members gliding across the land in silence. No troll would be allowed to spot them, or else their cover would be blown wide open.

* * *

Notes:

-I tried to stay more on par with Nepeta's quirk this time

-Trolls will have outfit changes but will be in accordance to their respective castes on the hemospectrum


End file.
